The 2015-2016 session of the State General Assembly started with a new slate of leaders – in the House, Senate and a new Governor. Each thought the 2014 election had given them a mandate: Republicans increased their control of the House and Senate, and Democrat Tom Wolf was elected Governor in a near landslide win.

The EPA notified Pennsylvania this month that it will be developing Pennsylvania-specific goals for reducing nutrients and sediment in the Pennsylvania portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to help the Commonwealth get back on track to meeting its 2025 TMDL cleanup commitments.

On another energy/environment front, the Governor signed SB 1195, which establishes a role for the General Assembly in reviewing the states proposal for compliance with the Clean Power Plan relating to greenhouse gas emissions, now Act 57.

The last time Congress managed to pass a major energy bill was the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. And for the past ten years, until recently, it appeared that the only hope for another would be a significant realignment of the House, Senate and White House. But recent events suggest an opportunity may be here to pass a consensus energy bill.

In the Pennsylvania’s Presidential primary, Donald Trump won easily over Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, gaining more than 55% of the vote, assuring him of the 17 statewide delegates on the first ballot.

The PA Chapter of the American College of Physicians has asked the House and Senate Insurance Committees to investigate Highmark’s losses from the Afffordable Care Act coverage, its decision to cut physicians payments by 4.5%, and contracting issues which allowed the insurer to use doctors as a risk pool, rather than use the billions of dollars it keeps in its reserves for such losses.

This year is the big one, there is no off-year election for PA. The President, state row offices, US Senator, our entire Congressional delegation, the entire PA State House and one-half of the State Senate are all up for election/re-election in November.

As the state budget impasse passed a record 200 days, explaining how we got here gets more difficult with every passing social media commentary. Perhaps the best route is to use an analogy – building the state’s financial house…